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Empowerment Equalizer
SSaragian
Ann Sterzinger
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Craig FitzGerald
David Heleniak
Caity & Dan Greene
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Keith Preston
Bill the Butcher
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Jack Donovan
Rachel Haywire
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Michael
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Rachel Haywire
Nexus X HumectressBy Nicky Reid aka Comrade Hermit
Exile in Happy Valley
It’s official dearest motherfuckers, those goddamn Jesus freaks have declared war on trans kids, my kids. As I gaze upon the legislative wreckage from the tsunami of hate laws that have washed over the Bible Belt and beyond, I can find no less histrionic conclusion to come too. In this year alone, over 100 anti-trans bills have been introduced in 33 states trying to regulate everything from children’s sports to public restrooms. The very worst among these laws ban trans youth from access to hormone treatment that has been clinically proven to reduce the risk of suicide in a notoriously vulnerable population by double digit percentages. Arkansas and Tennessee have already passed these vile intrusions into youth rights and more are on the way. needless to say, I am sick with rage.
The damage of these laws can’t be overestimated. Denying trans youth autonomy over their own biology is an assault against their very existence. Being born into the wrong body is hellish enough. Being forced to go through the puberty of any sex but your own is a feeling too hideous for words to describe. I barely survived it myself. Many trans kids don’t. For these kids, puberty blockers and hormone therapy can literally save lives. I am not being hyperbolic when I say these laws will kill children and, as long as those children are deemed freaks like me, I am not convinced that the so called Christian Right gives a fuck.
These bastards actually have the nerve to call themselves conservative while they turn whole corners of the country into biological police states and hand the law a goddamn speculum. You think that the scariest words in the English language are ‘I’m with the government and I’m here to help’? Try adding ‘Spread your legs and let me assign you a gender.’ These laws afford state governments with more power than your family physician, and this has nothing to do with localism or state’s rights. All of these heinous bills are financed and authored nearly word for word by gigantic carpetbagging Rockefeller Republican think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, who just see this issue as another excuse to rile up rednecks into handing over their paychecks to swamp critters in the GOP. It’s one big hustle at the expense of the easiest scapegoat on the farm.
Attack the System
Categories: Culture Wars/Current Controversies
I don’t like the state deciding healthcare, but it’s also important that children’s rights are protected. If a medical professional and both parents are in unanimous agreement, I see no need for state intervention; I have mixed feelings if one party dissents. But this idea that the youth have bodily autonomy? That’s a bridge too far. If you ask me: if you’re too young to consent to sex, you’re too young to consent to sex change. Such a decision should be decided by adults.
But as Nicky pointed out in the article, this isn’t merely a debate about parental authority, children’s rights, local autonomy, states’ rights, medical autonomy, trans rights, etc.
This is the right-wing of the ruling class attempting to rally support for itself by offering up transfolks as scapegoats. It’s not even about whether you like transfolks or not. They could easily offer up the Jehovah’s Witnesses as a scapegoat instead (“those wacko bothersome cultists who show up at your door uninvited and have some weird hangup about blood transfusions”). In fact, Russia targets both the JWs and the LGBTs (as did the Third Reich). What is happening is that as the traditional capitalist/military elite (see the feature article I posed earlier today) is losing power to the rising Brahmin classes (the tech elite and ideas industries), they’re looking for a way to hold the line, which means rallying what George Packer calls “Real America” (the right-wing of the Red Tribe), which is also facing an existential crisis due to shifting demographics and cultural norms. What we’re seeing on the Right is an American Modism where the declining Shatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (merchants) are trying to incite the right-wing of the Shudras (workers) against various categories of Dalits (traditional outcasts).
At the national level, corporate America, the heavily populated areas, and the large metro areas, the Brahmins have the upper hand. But the American Modists are asserting themselves in the deep red zones.